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Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoBarbara J. Perenic | DISPATCHSebastian Vidika of Sullivan Black River got the better of Jake Adkins of Northridge at 106 pounds, winning 6-2 to advance to the final.

Jonathan Alder junior Troy Caldwell had faced his Division II state wrestling semifinal opponent earlier this year and lost.

But he entered his rematch last night against Upper Sandusky’s Tylor Pritchard confident that he’d learned from that loss.

“I knew he was at least beatable,” Caldwell said. “I knew what he was going to try to do, too.”

It showed. Leading 1-0, Caldwell pinned Pritchard at 3:42 of their 220-pound match in Value City Arena to advance to the state finals.

“I was able to get the overhook on him because I knew he’d go for the underhook,” Caldwell said. “I knew it would be there at some point in the match. I was waiting for an opportunity.”

Caldwell will face Garrett Harding of Uhrichsville Claymont, who also won by pin, in the final.

A year ago at the state tournament, Caldwell lost two of three matches and failed to place.

“I knew what it felt like to lose,” Caldwell said. “I told myself I didn’t ever want to feel that again.”

Caldwell defeated Deaken McCoy of Galion 3-1 in his quarterfinal match on Friday. Then came the sudden ending to his semifinal match.

“I didn’t even know what to think,” Caldwell said. “I was so excited. I looked up at everybody who came to watch and they were all freaking out. I thought it would be a pretty close match. I knew I could beat him, but I thought it would be (decided by) points.”

Surprising loss

Defending Division III state champion heavyweight Patrik Garren of Ready was in control of his semifinal match against Fremont St. Joseph Central Catholic’s Corey Durbin, leading 5-1 in the second period.

Then an attempt to build on the lead turned into disaster when Garren got pinned at 3:49.

Ready coach James Yonushonis took the blame.

“I want him to wrestle like a college wrestler, so I push him to be continually on the guy and active the entire match,” he said. “That’s how I coach. I don’t want it to be boring. I don’t want him to be holding on and winning by stalling it out. Unfortunately, we got too aggressive.”

With Yonushonis urging Garren to build on his lead, Garren attempted another move.

“He shot it in on a leg, missed it, got pulled up and that kid knew what to do,” Yonushonis said. “He launched him and pinned him. It’s just such a shock. You’re dominating the match and because you’re pushing the pace you get in a bad position, and it ends up costing you.”

Tale of the tape

This year’s rematch in the Division III 145-pound division wasn’t nearly as close. Baldridge was close to pinning Stanley at the end of the first and second periods and dominated for an 11-3 decision.

“I went back and looked at the video from last year,” Baldridge said. “I knew both of us had gotten better, but I used that as a scouting opportunity. It gave me a lot of confidence.”

Baldridge, who finished fifth last year, will face Logan Lacure of Jamestown Greeneview in the final. Lacure was the runner-up at 120 pounds as a freshman in 2013.

So close

Hartley senior Grant Rathburn looked to be on the verge of sending his Division III 138-pound semifinal match to overtime until a call went against him.

Rathburn trailed Dayton Christian’s Alex Becker 3-1 when, with seven seconds left, he appeared to have gotten a reversal that would have tied the score. At least his coach thought so. But the two officials huddled and ruled that Rathburn didn’t complete the reversal before going off the mat.

“It’s tough to talk right now,” Hartley coach Kevin Petrella said. “He said his hip was out of bounds. He said he was out of bounds first before he got the arms under there. When you’re that close to being in the state finals, it’s pretty tough. That would have tied the match.”